Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Wood processing technology Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Wood processing technology - Research Paper Example Aesthetically recycled wood could be more resilient and more manageable than actual wood. In terms of strength recycled wood can also be comparable and would be able to withstand the requirement of wood products. The objective of the proposed thesis is to educate the different sectors dependent on wood and the sector that heavily contribute to wood processes of the advantages of recycled wood. It is also the objective of this thesis to provide alternative processes that would make use of recycled wood rather than raw wood in wood processes. The proposed thesis will be able to provide information on the different qualities and specifications of the different recycling methods and the recycled wood products that they produce. Using secondary sources and the works of others in the same subject of research will enable the proposed thesis to provide reliable information that could be used by wood producers. Due to the limited time and resources experimentation with regards to the strength and aesthetic impact of recycled wood cannot be done. â€Å"There is an increasing need to develop technologies in which renewable materials are used as direct replacement for non-renewables. Our current rate of consumption of non-renewable are high and in most cases increasing, but the reserves from which they are obtained are finite and exhaustible. Our present patterns of consumption are not sustainable in the long term. Although this problem appears to be unique to the 21st century, these concerns are not new.† (Hill) The wood industry is on its last breath as the last 10 million trees remaining on the world’s forest are being harvested for its wood. If sustainable wood processing technique is not found or developed that would rely heavily on processed wood. The wood industry will die as a trade. Wood processing is the only industry that directly damages the environment. The raw material itself comes

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Geographically Weighted Regression to Model Housing Prices

Geographically Weighted Regression to Model Housing Prices Introduction In chapter 2, HPM has been used to model the relationships between characteristics of property and neighbourhood. However, HPM treats the whole housing market as a single homogenous market and assumes a stationary process, i.e the parameter estimates are assumed to apply equally over space. This presumes the influences of various factors on house prices in one location are the same as those in another location so that space, place and location do no matter (Foster refer). However, as shown in Chapter 2, the residuals derived using HPM are correlated. Additionally, Chapter 3 shows that when MLM approach is employed to account for spatial heterogeneity, the effects of those various factors in fact vary across neighbourhoods at different scales and there are great price differentials between neighbourhoods. The global approach, such as HPM, masks those local deviations from this average relationship. Disadvantages of MLM Although MLM approach takes into account spatial heterogeneity by specifying the spatial units as levels in the model, there are some weakness of this approach. Firstly, there is no agreement on the definition of neighbourhoods (Kearns and Parkinson 2001: 2103), so the specification of the macro level units (i.e. neighbourhoods) is fairly arbitrary. In the past, census boundaries (†¦),administrative boundaries (†¦.), or school catchment areas (goodman) have all been used to delimitate the whole house market into smaller submarkets, or local neighbourhood areas. Some researchers combined a series of dataset, such as travel-to-work, immigration and house price information and constructed a so-called housing market areas (HMAs)(†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..) . HMAs neither match the census boundaries, or the administrative boundaries, but instead, they represents†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. . The existence of spatial dependency in geographical data means that the observations that are most spatially dependent in the locations that are close to each other should constitute a neighbourhood. A predefined hierarchy of spatial units based on administrate or census boundaries may not necessarily appropriate. Secondly, MLM[1] treats space and assumes that same spatial process applies within the neighbourhoods and discontinues at the boundaries of the neighbourhoods. (†¦). Additionally, the highest level of spatial units (for example, MSOAs in our analysis) are assumed to be spatially dependent. This assumption is unrealistic because the â€Å"effect† of a neighbourhood is more likely change gradually from one neighbourhood to its adjacent ones rather than completely stops, the so-called â€Å"spill-over† effects. Therefore, there might be presence of spatial dependency between MSOAs that MLM is unable to capture. In contract, GWR (Brunsdon et al, 1996†¦..) relaxes the assumptions of the effects of various variables being constant over space (Dark, 2004,Mitchell, 2005andShi etal., 2006) and treats space as continuous. It calibrates locally a spatially varying coefficient regression model for each location of the study area by weighting the attributes of it neighbouring locations based on distance-decay functions (†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.). The attributes of neighbours of a fitted location are all considered so the spatial dependency and heterogeneity can be taken into account in this approach (Paez 2005). This chapter therefore introduced this type of modelling technique to explore the spatial variations that may exist in the relationships between house price and its predictors. Purpose and Structure of the Chapter The aim of this chapter is to identify whether the relationships of house prices and a range of characteristics of houses and neighbourhood attributes) are relatively stable, or they vary substantially over space? If there are spatial variations, how does the relationships vary within and between neighbourhoods and how does this variation differ from the results derived from MLM approach? In addition, how good is the GWR approach in terms of its predictive capability, compared with MLM.? In the next section, a brief description of this technique is introduced. Section 3 follows with a review of previous applications of GWR is presented. The proposed study in relation to the empirical implementation of the technique then follows in section 4. The final section summarise the comparison between GWR and MLM the results and discusses the appropriateness of both techniques. 4.2 Brief Description on GWR Models What is GWR? GWR technique is fully descried by Fotheringham etal., 2002[2] and just a brief description of the approach is presented here. GWR is a spatial analysis technique that takes into account spatial autocorrelations among the observations in surrounding locations by allowing for spatial nonstationarity in the linear regression coefficients for each location. In GWR literature, the â€Å"location† can be a point or an aggregated area. describe local geographical variations in the relationships between a response variable and its explanatory variables by a set of local estimates for all the predictors for each geographical location (Fotheringham et al. 2002). A set of estimates and standard errors for each local coefficients are produced by focusing each location in the study region and weighted matrix of its nearby observation. The basic GWR equation can be written as: (4.1) Where denotes the coordinates of the th point in a two-dimensional study area; is the dependent variable at point , is the estimated intercept at point , ( represents the estimated coefficient for variable at point , is the independent variable of the th parameter at location , and is the error term for the local model at point . The estimation of ( is derived using weighted least squares (WLS) regressions (Moore and Myers, 2010; Fotheringham et al., 2002) by weighting the observations near location in accordance with their distance to that fit point. It is given by: where is a diagonal matrix denoting the geographical weighting of the observations around the fit point . Weighting The weighting is based on the distance between the regression location and its nearest neighbours, defined as bandwidth. The points in closer proximity to location is given more weight and therefore has more influence on the estimation of than the observations that are further away to location . A number of weighting schemes are available, but they tend to be Gaussian or â€Å"Gaussian-like† function, which is the types of dependency generally found in spatial processes (Forthemham). Two Commonly used distance-decay functions in GWR are Gaussian and Bi-square function (Fotheringham et al. 2002), which are expressed as below: Gaussian Bi-square Where is the th element of the diagonal of the matrix of the geographical weights , is the bandwidth, a threshold distance that any observations beyond this distance will not be used for calibrating the local model, and represents the distance between observation and focus point . When and coincide, the weighting equals to 1. Source: Gollini et al (2014) GW model: an R Package for Exploring Spatial Heterogeneity using Geographically Weighted Models Both functions are continuous up until the bandwidth, but the weights of Bi-square function decrease faster than that of Gaussian function and eventually become zero at the boundary of the bandwidth, while the weights of Gaussian function do not become zero. Both of the weighting functions will be tried in the planned research. Bandwidth Bandwidths can be specified either as fixed or adaptive (in terms of physical distance). The physical distance for adaptive bandwidth is changeable according to the spatial density so as to capture a fixed nearest neighbours for each local model: a shorter distance for areas where observations are dense and longer distance when data are sparse. The benefit of using adaptive bandwidth is that it can ensure sufficient local information be utilised for areas where observations are spatially scares and reduce the estimate variance for local coefficient and still reveal subtle local variations where observations are dense (Fotheringham et al. 2002). Therefore, adaptive bandwidth will be used in the planned research as the density of house price data vary geographically. The size of bandwidth affects gradient of the kernel and thus the rate of decay function. A small bandwidth have fewer observations included in the local model and rapid decay whereas a large bandwidth will have more observations in the local model and a smoother weighting scheme. The size of the bandwidth is important as if the bandwidth is too small, although the model would fits better for the local observations, but at the same time local noise may also be fitted thus the local estimates will have large variances. Conversely, if the bandwidth is too large, although the variances will become smaller, but the estimates of local coefficients are based on a much larger area and result in biased estimates which masks the true local relationships, especially if the relationships vary dramatically over small areas. This is the so-called bias-variance trade-off (Fotheringham et al., 2002)[3]. The effective number can be used to reflect bias-variance trade-off in GWR, which is a measure o f the number of observations that have been used effectively for calibrating the local model. Bias-Variance Trade-Off To find the best bias-variance trade-off, an appropriate weighting function and optimal bandwidth need to be selected. It has been argued that the selection of bandwidth selection is far more important than the weighting scheme as the weighting all decreases as distances increase by all weighting functions but the size of bandwidth decides the degree of decay (Fortherham†¦). The optimization process is generally exploratory and can be very compute-intensive process as it requires all the local regressions fitted at each step[4]. It can be achieved by either cross-validation method or use corrected Akaike information criterion (AICc) (Fotheringham et al. (2002). Leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) is a commonly used cross-validation method in GWR, where for each local model, it is validated by using all the cases except for one observation and the model is tested on that single observation. The bandwidth which produce the smallest root mean square prediction errors for all the dependent variables of all the local models is deemed as the optimal bandwidth. AICc is an indicator of goodness-of-fit and can be used to compare competing models while taking into account the complexity of a model. A lower AIC score indicate a better fit of a model. As a rule of thumb, a decrease of 3 in AIC of two competing model score indicates an improvement in the model fit for the model with lower AIC (Fotheringham et al 2002; Zhang etal., 2011). It is common though to get different optimal bandwidth from the two methods as the criteria for optimal is different for AICc and for CV[5] and the AIC value is not based on prediction of the dependant variable (†¦[6]..). In addition, AIC score can be corrected for small sample size, while classical CV method tend to produce under-smoothed result for small sample size[7]. One thing is note is that AIC should be avoided when the sample size is large as it requires the creation of an n by n matrix [8]so the optimization can be very slow[9]. Both method will be tried out in the planned research. Why Use GWR and when? As mentioned earlier, when there is spatial dependency between variables and spatial non-stationarity, GWR can be used to disaggregate global relations to local levels to obtain a better understanding of spatial data in more details. As every local model is fitted to local observations, it fits better to data than a global model and residuals are generally lower and less spatially dependent. The outputs, the estimates of local coefficient are specific to each location. In Chapter 2, Moran’s I has been used and indicate that there is statistical significant spatial autocorrelation within both house prices and the residuals of HPM results. This means that the global fitted coefficient value of HPM does not represent detailed location variations adequately and GWR should be used in this instance to taken into account the spatial dependency and examine the heterogeneity in housing market. A review of GWR approach in house price estimation This section reviews the application of GWR technique with a focus on residential real estate, as well as the comparisons of GWR with a range of other methodologies. The section will conclude with the identification of the research gap and thus the contribution of the current chapter. Application in Real Estate Valuation GWR has been applied to a number of field, including land use (Geniaux et al. 2011†¦.), environment (Harris et al. 2010a), health (Comber et al. 2011, Helbich et al. 2012b, Yang and Matthews 2012; [10]) and crime studies (Leitner and Helbich 2011), economics ([11]), regional studies ([12]) and residential real estate studies (Kestens et al. 2006; Bitter et al. 2007†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦). In terms of the application to real estate, GWR has been used to investigate the effects of the locations and surrounding neighbourhood characteristics, such as †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦,the effects of accessibility, such as the new bus transitway in†¦..((Mulley, 2013), infrastructure availability in †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.(Cellmer, 2012), and the effects of open space amenities (Nilsson, 2014). GWR has also been used to identify housing sub-markets (Borst Mccluskey, 2007; Crespo Grà ªt-Regamey, 2013; Helbich, Brunauer, Hagenauer, Leitner, 2013). GWR compared with other modelling techniques GWR has also been compared with a few valuation tools in real estate, such as multiple regression analysis (MRA), simultaneous autoregressive model (SAR), Artificial neural networks (ANN), spatial expansion method (SEM) and Spatial lag model (e.g., Brunsdon et al., 1999[13]; LeSage 1999[14]; (Bitter, Mulligan, Dall’erba, 2006; Helbich, Brunauer, Vaz, Nijkamp, 2013; McCluskey, McCord, Davis, Haran, McIlhatton, 2013; Yu, Wei, Wu, 2007). More specifically Bitter, Mulligan, Dall’erba (2006) demonstrated in their study that GWR was superior to spatial expansion method ( define briefly †¦.)in terms of predictive accuracy and explanatory power when applied to examine the marginal price of key housing attributes in the Tucson, Arizona housing market. McCluskey, McCord, Davis, Haran, McIlhatton (2013) also showed that GWR outperform MRA, ANN and SAR in term of predictive accuracy, transparency, and cost-effectiveness and offered when applied to 2,694 residual properties in for real estate price estimation. In a case study of spatial heterogeneity in Austria, Helbich, Brunauer, Vaz, et al. (2013) extended GWR to a mixed-GWR(MGWR), which allows some coefficient to be stationary while others to be non-stationary. This approach is more flexible and parsimonious than standard GWR (Wei and Qi, 2012). Both MGWR and GWR has smaller prediction errors in comparison with a global approach, such as OLS, SAR and spatial t wo stage least square procedure (S2SLS)[15]. There are other extensions of GWR. To deal with cross-sectional time series data, GTWR (Huang, Wu, Barry, 2010) was developed to integrate both temporal and spatial information in the weighting matrices to capture spatial and temporal dependency and heterogeneity[16] . GTWR is able to model spatial and temporal nonstationarity simultaneously and therefore offers a better goodness-of-fit. LeSage (2003) incorporate a Bayesian treatment into GWR in order to improve the estimates of GWR parameters. Contextualized Geographically Weighted Regression (CGWR) was developed by adding contextual variables into standard GWR. The research applied this approach to model spatial heterogeneity in the land parcel prices of Beijing in China and demonstrated that the incorporation of contextual information improved the model fit. However, multicollinearity between explanatory variables may result in unstable results in GWR models and cause more problem for GWR than in a global regression model (Lloyd 2007). Therefore, extreme caution should be exercised when analysing the spatial patterns of local coefficients derived from GWR (Wheeler Tiefelsdorf, 2005). A range of diagnostic tools was proposed and usage of PCA to identify the most influential predictors or integrating ridge regression into the GWR framework (D. C. Wheeler, 2007) can help stabilize GWR regression coefficients. There is only limited comparison of GWR with MLM, or random coefficient model (RCM). These two approaches are very different in terms of its underlying assumptions of the spatial process and yielded completely different results in the study of long-term illness in the UK (Brunsdon, Aitkin, Fotheringham, Charlton, 1999). There has no published research that compares GWR with MLM in terms of their capability to model spatial heterogeneity of house price data and their predictive accuracy. In addition, although GWR can be applied at any geographic scale of measurement, in practice however, may applications and previous research applied it to an coarsely aggregated scale due to the availability of data or keep anonymized information. Unlike previous studies, we have geo-code the â€Å"location† of each house based on its unit postcode location, which only contains typically around 15 residential addresses[17]. We hope to offer further insight into the geographical variation of the relationships at this detailed level, which previously might be disguised in previous research when the level of analysis was carried out at a much coarser scale. Planned Research Standard GWR is applied to the same dataset in chapter two and three, the house price data of the Greater Bristol area. Two extended version of GWR, GTWR and CGWR, will be explored with the former to capture the temporal dependency and heterogeneity and the later to incorporate contextual information into the model. In GWR and CGWR, the whole dataset will be split into yearly data to avoid the potential temporal autocorrelation within the data. There is no need of doing so in GTWR, as the time of sale has been taken into account in the model. Individual house characteristics are all categorical variables as described in Chapter 2 and will be modelled first and then neighbourhood variables will be added in the subsequent models. The planned procedures and a few methodological issues are addressed as follows. Firstly, before carrying out actual modelling of GWR, whether there is significant spatial autocorrelation within the data, which can be between the response variables and its lagged values or between the explanatory variables and their lagged value. Two most commonly used weighting function, Gaussian and Bi-squares functions will be used, although it has been shown that the selection of the weighting function does not have as much an effect on the results as the selection of bandwidth (Fotheringham, Brunsdon, and Charlton 1998). If it is the case, just one weighting function will be used in the subsequent yearly models and the focus will be one the optimization of bandwidth. An adaptive bandwidth is proposed, as there is a good mixture of rural/urban of housing stock in Greater Bristol and the density of the house sales varies dramatically over space. Both CV and AIC will be used to obtain optimal bandw idth and measure model fit as it was shown in the past that the two methods resulted in different optimal bandwidth and regression coefficients ([18]). Once a weighting function and bandwidth has been selected, the weighting matrix can are defined and used to estimate the coefficient for every location based on equation (4.1) and calibrating local GWR. The standardised residuals and the parameters, and their estimated standard errors will be mapped to investigate whether they vary spatially[19]. This will also be compared with the map of the shrinkage estimates of the neighbourhoods (OAs, LSOAs and MSOAs) derived by MLM in previous chapters. It is expected that the mapped patterns of MLM coefficient exhibit more â€Å"noise† than that of GWR, since GWR is essentially a spatially smoothing calibration. All of the model caliberation will be conducted in R, using GWmodel package as this software is free and the process can be easily replicated. Lastly, the predictive accuracy of GWR will be measured and compare with MLM. R squared is used for goodness of fit of the model and it measures the proportion of variation in the data that is explained by the model. Adjusted Rsquared takes into account the complexity of the model in terms of the number of variable that are specified in the model. It is expected that extended version of GWR, GTWR and CGWR, may provide better model fit and more accurate predictions based on their previous applications. In the past, there has been criticism that GWR cannot produce confidence intervals (†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..) and the significance of the estimates for parameters cannot be tested. However, Monte Carlo significance tests have been used to test whether there is significant variability (†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..) so this test is also planned to test if the spatial variation of the coefficients are statistically significant. â€Å"Wild bootstrap† approach as suggested by by H ¨ardle (1990) and McMillen (2004) can also be used to produce a weighted average of the variance of the separate parameter estimates. Conclusion GWR generally give much better fits to the data and the residuals are less autocorrelated. Its advantages over MLM is that it no longer treats space as discrete, which more likely resemble the spatial process in reality, and it models both spatial dependency and heterogeneity. In addition, it is essentially a non-parametric approach that does not requiring any assumptions with respect to the predictors, which can be categorical or the underlying distributions of the predictors can be highly skewed. There is no need to specify a functional form to produce the estimates of spatially varying parameters (Brunsdon et al 1998). The underlining concept of â€Å"letting the data speak for themselves† make it a good exploratory tool [20] for spatial analysis. This concept is very much similar to another modelling technique, ANN, except that in ANN, there is no implication of nearer locations have more influences on the estimates of local coefficients than locations that are further awa y as in GWR. This although unlikely in reality, but it might happen. How does GWR compared with ANN will be discussed in the next chapter. Link GWR and ANN: a set of estimates of spatially varying parameters WITHOUT specifying a functional form – â€Å"let the data speak for themselves† (Chris et al 1998) [1] the parameter estimates are assumed to be randomly distributed with either a finite (Wedel and Kamakura 2000) or a continuous mixture distribution (Aitkin 1996). [2] And Legendre, 1993 [3] Check: Bias-variance trade-off: MLM (Goldstein 1987) and Ridge Regeression (Hoerl and Kennard 1970a, 1970b) [4] check reference Schabenberger and Gotway (2005 316-317) statistical methods for spatial data analysis Waller and Gotway (2004, p434) – applied spatial statistics and Lloyd (2007 pp 79-86): local models for spatial analysis [5] http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisdesktop/9.3/body.cfm?tocVisable=1ID=-1TopicName=Interpreting GWR results [6] Housing Sub-markets and Hedonic Price Analysis: A Bayesian Approach by David C. Wheeler1*, Antonio Pà ¡ez2* , Lance A. Waller1 and Jamie Spinney3 Chapter 4 [7] Encyclopedia of Geographic Information Science edited by Karen Kemp (p183) [8] (gwr.sel {spgwr}) [9] NOTE AIC be applied in non-Gaussian GWR( Local Models for Spatial Analysis, Second Edition By Christopher D. Lloyd) [10] Modelling spatially varying impacts of socioeconomic predictors on mortality outcomes, J Geograph Syst (2003) 5:161–184, DOI: 10.1007/s10109-003-0099-7, proposed for modelling spatially varying, predictor effects on a disease or mortality count outcome The methodology is illustrated by suicide mortality in 32 London Boroughs over the period 1979–1993, in terms of area deprivation and a measure of social fragmentation disease mapping methods [11] SPATIAL HETEROGENEITY AND THE WAGE CURVE REVISITED*Simonetta Longhi, ISER, Peter Nijkamp [12] The Geographic Diversity of U.S. Nonmetropolitan Growth Dynamics: A Geographically Weighted Regression Approach Mark D. Partridgey Dan 5. Rickman, Kamar AU, and M, Rose Olfertte.st for geographic heterogeneity in ihe growth parameters ami compare iliem to global regression estimates. The results indicate significant heterogeneity in the regression coejjkients across the country, most notably for amenities and college graduate shares. V.sing GWR also exposes .signiftimt local variations that are masked by global estimates [13] A Comparison of Random-Coefficient modelling and Modeling and Geographically Weighted Regression for Spatial Non-Stationary Regression Problems, Geographical and Environmental Modeling, 3 (1), 47–62 [1

Friday, October 25, 2019

Acid Rain :: essays research papers fc

Acid Rain What is acid rain? Acid rain is not a recent phenomenon. In the 17th century, scientists noted the ill effects that industry and acidic pollution was having on vegetation and people. However, the term acid rain was not coined until two centuries later when Angus Smith published a book called 'Acid Rain' in 1872 ( Zumdahl 173). Acidic pollutants can be deposited from the atmosphere to the Earth's surface in wet and dry forms. The common term to describe this process is acid deposition. The term acid precipitation is used to specifically describe wet forms of acid pollution that can be found in rain, sleet, snow, fog, and cloud vapor. An acid can be defined as any substance that when dissolved in water dissociates to yield corrosive hydrogen ions. The acidity of a substances dissolved in water is commonly measured in terms of pH. According to this measurement scale solutions with pHs less than 7 are described as being acidic, while a pH greater than 7.0 is considered alkaline. Precipitation normally has a pH between 5.0 to 5.6 because of natural atmospheric reactions involving carbon dioxide. Precipitation is considered to be acidic when its pH falls below 5.6. Some sites in eastern North America have precipitation with pHs as low as 2.3 or about 1000 times more acidic than natural ( Zumdahl 171). One of the main causes of acid rain is sulphur dioxide. Natural sources, which emit this gas, are volcanoes, sea spray, rotting vegetation and plankton. However, the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, are largely to be blamed for approximately half of the emissions of this gas in the world. When sulphur dioxide reaches the atmosphere, it oxidizes to first form a sulphate ion. It then becomes sulphuric acid as it joins with hydrogen atoms in the air and falls back down to earth. Oxidation occurs mostly in clouds and especially in heavily polluted air where other compounds such as, ammonia and ozone help to catalyze the reaction, converting more sulphur dioxide to sulphuric acid. One of the direct effects of acid rain is on lakes and its aquatic ecosystems. There are several routes through which acidic chemicals can enter the lakes. Some chemical substances exist as dry particles in the air while others enter the lakes as wet particles such as rain, snow, sleet, hail, dew or fog. In addition, lakes can almost be thought of as the "sinks" of the earth, where rain that falls on land is drained through the sewage systems eventually makes their way into the lakes.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

How to Get Your Drivers License.

Getting your driver’s license is probably at the top of any sixteen year olds list, because everyone knows how important it is to them to be independent and it can be seen as the first real step in making that step from childhood to adulthood. However, getting your driver’s license isn't just a real simple thing. It involves getting your permit first, taking a driver’s education class, and then of course the actual driving part. Knowing this information can ensure you that you are one step closer to driving on your own. To start off, you have to get the learner’s permit.There usually is a fee and you must bring your birth certificate, social security card, attendance and grades from school, and insurance, if you already have a car. You would have to pass the vision screening, the written test over the rules and regulations, and be at least 16 years old. Be aware that if you fail the written test, you cannot take it again until the next day. After you get t he permit, you must remember that unfortunately you can only drive with a family member who is at least twenty one and one other person in the car with you.Also, you have to have had the learner’s permit for at least six months before you can take the class. Secondly, take a driver’s education class. With this, you must have seven hours in a car, twenty hours behind the wheel, thirty two classroom hours and pass the final driving/written test with a seventy or higher. The class usually consists of a bunch of people around sixteen or seventeen years old, some maybe older. How much it will cost depends on the school you choose. Furthermore, in this class you will watch videos and learn what to do and what not to do. You even watch the accident videos that make you want to cry.There will also be little quizzes and assignments given by the instructor to make sure you are learning properly. Finally, the last and most important thing is the actual driving. This is where your skills and knowledge are really put to the test. They assign everyone a driving partner, and both take turns driving for fourty five minutes to an hour. However, Before you can pass and get that driver’s license, you must be able to parallel park, merge on and off highways, highway drive in general, answer any questions the instructor has, change lanes, back up, and do a three point turn.They also test you on knowing where everything is like the turn signals, buttons for windshield wipers and breaks, etc. Once you are done with the test and you have passed with a seventy or higher, you will receive your certificate stating that you are now a licensed driver and then all you need to do is go take a picture and get the driver’s license from the DPS (Department of Public Safety) office. Congratulations you made it! You started off from getting your permit, taking the driver’s education class, passing the final driving test and finally wound up with your driverâ₠¬â„¢s license. Here are your keys – now get driving!

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Religion and Education Institutions

Since the beginning of mankind, every civilization shows evidence of some sort of the religion and education institutions. These institutions are essential to organized human society. From teaching your grandson to assemble a tomahawk to worshipping the Greek god of war, people show religion and education in many different ways. What does it mean to be religious? It means almost everything because religions deal with the whole of human life and death. For centuries people have searched for the meaning and truth of their own nature and the nature of the universe. Religions are the result. We view religions as communities of people who share practices and beliefs, who gather together in special buildings to worship, and who have a special way of living. More then three-quarters of the world†s population consider themselves members of some time of religion. Religion deals with almost all aspects of human life. It may have influence in marriage, work, and even food. Religion has been around for thousands of years and it will continue for many more. There are thousands of religions and thousand more subdivisions of those. Religions are divided mainly into ancient and modern religions. Not to say that the â€Å"modern† religions just originated in the past couple years, just they are still practiced in present times. Some of the ancient religions include Egyptian, Zoroastrianism, Greek, Roman, Norse, and Celtic. The beliefs of these religions vary greatly and you could write a paper on each one. Among the main modern religions, Christianity and Islam are the most popular throughout the world. Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Judaism, and many others are still practiced throughout the world. Hinduism and Buddhism are mainly practiced in the Far East. Christianity is most common among English speaking countries. Islam is the primary religion in the African continent. There are thousands of variations of the religions that I have named previously. Religion and power have been closely related in the past millenium. Powerful leaders have taken advantage of people†s religion. Religion has to do with ones mind and if a leader controls religion, he controls the mind of his followers. In the past, priests and church leaders played important roles in the government. These roles gave them power and influence over the following people. The caste system in India places priests and other people with religious prowess on the top rung of society. In the Vatican City, the pope runs the whole country. He is also the leader of the Catholic Church. This shows the relationship between power and the church. In many tribal societies, the medicine man or religious leader is well respected among his brethren. This is because of his involvement with religion. Fundamentally, if you control your people†s mind, then you also control their body. Many religious leaders have abused their powers in the past and have been involved in brutal religious battles. The leaders in the churches gain power and develop a state of dictatorship. They go to war for their god. The crusades were a violent conflict, which occurred between two separate religions. This particular conflict was between the Christians and the Islamic people. The Muslims took over Jerusalem and the Christians spent years trying to recover the center of their religion. In more recent times the Jews were persecuted because of their religion. Hitler ordered the massacres of millions of people because of their religious beliefs. Many people have died sacrificing themselves for their religion. That is how powerful the institution of religion really is. Religion affects many things and United States politics are no exception. The churches try to influence who gets elected. They support candidates to further their beliefs. For example: abortion, euthanasia, and homosexuality are current issues that churches are trying to have an impact on. They may contribute money, educate their members one way or another, and have rallies in their church. For these reasons, many politicians try to gain support from religious supporters. Several trends are showing throughout the world. Many religious people feel the quality of religious education in schools is unacceptable and therefore take it upon themselves to teach their children. This system is known as homeschooling. This has been becoming more and more popular every year. Another trend is the increase of nondenominational churches. These churches lack the title of Baptist, Lutheran, and such. The reason for this may be the harsh treatment of others from denomination to denomination. Another main institution among families throughout the world is education. There are many different types of education. Public, private, and traditional are the most common forms of education. Public Education consists of a government sponsored schooling system, which is available to all people of the community. Some feel that this system is lacking, because they have no accountability. However, it does provide an education to everyone, rich or poor. The private school system is a business institution that does not receive support from the government. The parents pay to put their children in these institutions. The disadvantage of this system is the cost. They have to pay for public school in addition to the private school tuition. The advantage is it places kids of the highest capability and places them together. This maximizes learning potential. The traditional education system is most popular in small villages and undeveloped nations. This education would be your parents or elder teaching you the essentials to life. Your dad would take you out and show you how to hunt; your mother would show you how to cook. This educational system is very limited, because you would only learn as much as your teacher knows. Public education was developed to expand the knowledge of United States citizens. The idea behind it was to give everyone an equal opportunity to learn. Before this time only the rich had the luxury of education. Everyone in the country pays taxes in order to support the institution. This money is used to develop schools and pay teachers. In turn, anyone can enroll in the school without any additional fees. This system is based on an equal opportunity theory. Everyone has the opportunity to learn if they have the desire. In the movie, School Ties, a boy experiences the prejudice of a private religious school. He was from the lower class among society and that put him at a disadvantage. People did not give him respect because of how little his dad makes. He was used to going to a public school, so he had not experienced the close bonds to his classmates that occurs in private institutions. He managed alright in the beginning until religion came up. He was Jewish and the school he attended was Catholic. These religions conflict and he was discriminated against for his beliefs. He lost friends and respect because he believed differently. Whenever people are different, they suffer discrimination. This proved true in School Ties.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Basic Concepts of Soccer Essay Example

Basic Concepts of Soccer Essay Example Basic Concepts of Soccer Essay Basic Concepts of Soccer Essay Remember, playing soccer with this age group does not require soccer skills. All you need Is a positive attitude, a willingness to be silly, and of course a little patience. The goal for this age group is to introduce them to the basic concepts of soccer (dribbling, kicking, running, scoring goals), help them Improve their social skills and most Importantly have fun! Before you start playing make sure the little ones, have a size 3 soccer ball, cleats/ athletic shoes, shin guards and a water bottle. Now for the fun apart Step One: Meet and Greet/Warm-ups- Introduce yourself to the players. Talk about soccer a little bit. Warm up by doing stretches, such as jumping jacks, arms, legs, running in place. Step Two: Demonstrate how to kick the ball and what art of the foot to use (laces not toes) Step Three: Kicking the ball- you can have the players line up in front of each other and practice kicking the ball to each other. Step Four: Teach the players how to dribble the ball- Then you can have kids dribble from end of the field to the other, using the red light, green light method. Step Five: You want to teach the players how to trap the ball, this way they will be able to properly stop the ball if it comes In front of them. Step Six: Scoring the goal- Teach the players how to score a goal Step Seven: Protect the goal- Here you want to teach the players how to protect the goal to prevent any balls from going In Thats it, you have officially taught a toddler the fundamentals of the basic soccer moves, now comes the fun part, let loose and play a game of soccer, letting them incorporate all the new things they learned. Ministration speech By thyroid deed is a positive attitude, a willingness to be silly, and of course a little patience. The kicking, running, scoring goals), help them improve their social skills and most importantly have fun! Now for the fun part! Step One: Meet and Greensward-ups- Introduce yourself to the players, talk about soccer a little bit. Warm up by doing stretches, such as Jumping Jacks, arms, legs, able to properly stop the ball if it comes in front of them. Goal to prevent any balls from going in Thats it, you have officially taught a toddler the fundamentals of the basic soccer

Monday, October 21, 2019

buy custom African Americans Perception about Diabetes essay

buy custom African Americans Perception about Diabetes essay Diabetes is an incurable disease that can be effectively managed if correct measures are taken. Some of the measures include early diagnosis, proper dieting, and increased awareness on the risk factors. Even though such information is vital among Native Americans who have risen up against the odds to fight it, African Americans are still lagging behind on it. Diabetes has been related to a luxurious lifestyle that most African Americans may not have a privilege to. This has hence made them not to seek early diagnosis or rather seek awareness on the same. They believe that it is impossible for them to acquire the disease, as they are not into luxurious living as their fellow natives. The few that have been diagnosed with the disease are always treated as terminally ill and hence not being given the assistance they need. They face stigmatization as they are left for dead. Such stigmatization has prevented some who may suspect to be infected not to seek medical help. In order to facilitate such awareness programs among black Americans, it is important for awareness campaigns to be held on the entire black population. Issues such as the disease being hereditary rather than just luxurious lifestyle should be made clear to them. They should also be informed that the disease is manageable and the sufferers can be helped to live longer healthy lives. The issues of the disease not being infectious should also be clarified to minimize on cases where such patients are isolated. Most African Americans are ignorant about diabetes, which makes them not to get involved in its campaigns. It is about time that proper information about the disease, how it is acquired, and the safety measures that should be taken to prevent infection, should be addressed. They should also be encouraged to take the tests so that they are given more information on how to remain healthy depending on the results. Buy custom African Americans Perception about Diabetes essay

Sunday, October 20, 2019

A Sample Back to School Night Agenda

A Sample Back to School Night Agenda Back to School Night is your opportunity to make a strong, positive first impression on your new students parents. Time is short, but theres a lot of information to cover so its important to make a schedule of Back to School Night activities and follow it as closely as possible. That way, you can feel confident that you will address all of the most important points, while the parents will get all of their questions answered in a friendly and orderly manner. Sample Back to School Night Schedule Use the following sample schedule of Back to School Night activities as a road-map of key points you might want to cover during your own presentation. Distribute (or display via presentation) the evenings agenda so that parents know what to expect.Briefly introduce yourself, including your educational background, teaching experience, interests, and a few friendly pieces of personal information.Give an overview of the scope and sequence of the curriculum you will be covering with the students over the course of the school year. Show textbooks and give a thumbnail sketch of what the students will know by the end of the year.Describe a typical day in your classroom as exhibited through the daily schedule. Be sure to mention which days of the week are for special activities such as physical education class or visiting the library.Mention a few important dates in the school calendar, perhaps the major vacation dates, field trips, assemblies, carnivals, etc.Review the classroom and school rules and procedures. Consider asking the parents to sign a slip that indicates their agreement to the classroom rules and corresponding consequences.T ell the parents about opportunities to volunteer in the classroom. Be specific about what you need and what various jobs entail. Let them know where the volunteer sign-up sheet is located. Allow a few minutes for the parents to ask you questions in a whole group setting. Only take time to answer questions that apply to all or most of the students. Child-specific questions should be addressed in a different format.Distribute your contact information, how you prefer to be contacted, and how the parents can expect to hear from you on a weekly or monthly basis (class newsletter, for example). Introduce the Room Parent, if applicable.Let the parents meander around the classroom for a few minutes, exploring bulletin boards and learning centers. You can even conduct a quick scavenger hunt for a fun way for parents  to explore the classroom.  And remember to encourage them to leave a little note for their children.Smile, thank everyone for coming, and relax. You did it!

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Note Taking and Referencing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Note Taking and Referencing - Essay Example What is the essence of approaching problems from a new perspective? How possible is it for managers to adapt to the changes in the 21st century? What is objective of finding a balance in effective management? How do incentives influence workers’ productivity if they form part of company goals and objectives? What is the function of dynamism in organizations in the 21st century? 3. Incentives motivate workers to work hard. Motivation gives employees a new lease of completing tasks. Approaching problems from a new perspective helps people to adapt with change. Managers could listen to their 21st century employees. A balance in effective management ensures that there is an agreement in decisions. By incentives becoming part of company goals and objectives, implementation becomes easier. Dynamism helps managers adapt to change. 4. I can apply these facts in making deductions such as the roles of managers, employees and clients in seeking a neutral ground on issues of motivation. T hey will also help me to examine how they are connected with productivity. 5. In my review, I think the facts should be implemented promptly to help organizations succeed. Part 2: Summary My choice of video in business and management is The Puzzle of Motivation by Dan Pink. The speaker begins by noting that he made certain errors that he has never shared with anyone but could do so within the forum. He then confesses that when he went to law school, he failed terribly and it was not a good thing because it was under the influence of youthful digression. Consequently, he was barred from practicing law but on the advice of his wife; he intends to impart a few of the legal skills in building a case to demonstrate motivational perspectives at the workplace as a vital factor in management (Hertel 2003, p. 120). In other words, Dan Pink applies a lawyerly analogy to explain how people run their businesses. He starts with the Candle Problem that was started in 1945 and well familiar exampl e to the audience. Arguing that it is part of a behavioral science, Pink asserts that attempting to fix the candle on the wall without letting it drip on the table forms the backbone of sound management. Similarly, after making several futile attempts according to the speaker, people often settle for the functional fixedness method 10 minutes later as the last solution. Dan Pink further quotes an eminent scientist who has used the Candle Problem to broadly explain the essence of incentives at the workplace as an instrumental form of effective management. In his demonstration, the scientist rounded up his participants and asked them how quick they could tackle a problem under strict timing. On that account, he subdivided the groups into two with one asked to calculate the averages and the normal time it takes to solve a normal problem while the other was promised rewards if they achieved the same task. The scientist guaranteed them that if they attained above 25 percent, then they wo uld get closely $5 for a job well done and the best would receive a total sum of $20. However, this offer came in the backdrop of a severe economic meltdown meaning the scientist had attained the role of a nice motivator in inspiring the second group (Latham 2007, p. 156). Consequently, the second group only spent less than three and half minutes to resolve the problem. According to Dan Pink, if anybody wishes his workers to perform better, the management should reward them by

Friday, October 18, 2019

Biodegradability of polymers Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Biodegradability of polymers - Term Paper Example The degradable products are biogas, carbon dioxide and methane. Natural polymers such as polysaccharides, proteins and nucleic acid are degraded by hydrolysis and oxidation. Biodegradation can occur aerobically and anaerobically depending on the availability of oxygen. Chemical structure, physical properties, molecular weight, porosity, elasticity and morphology are responsible for a material’s biodegradation. Compounds which can be biodegradable have the power to break down in environments where the material is decomposed by biological processes with the production of water, carbon dioxide and carbon containing soil (Leja and Lewandowicz 256). There are various tests which can be performed to assess the biodegradability of polymers. The tests performed can be simple or complex depending on their duration of action. Simple tests are rapid and complex ones are slow. The test methods that are practiced are different. Plate testing method is a simple method used as an initial test. The polymer that is to be tested is set on a mineral salt agar accompanied with some carbon for fungal growth to start. Then the sample is inoculated by fungi such as Aspergillusniger. The level of biodegradability is measured by loss of dry weight and surface colonization. Another method for assessment is the enzyme test. In this method specific enzymes are used to catalyze polymers such as starch-blended polymers. The polymer of choice is inserted into an enzyme solution and is incubated. The degree of biodegradability is measured by weight loss of polymer. Another method is when various microbial consortia or groups are identified for various po lymers. This test gives its assessment by showing changes in molecular weight and mechanical properties. Modified sturm test is a simple method in which activated sewage sludge is used. The desired

Organization Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Organization - Research Paper Example As such, the employees will know how to improve the performance of the organisation by implementing the techniques used in training. Thirdly, the HR should insist on using technology in some of the activities. It is decreed that technology improves production. Therefore, employees that use technology will give the organisation competitive advantage. 3. Necessity of job descriptions Organisations have to be open about job descriptions. All workers should be given their job descriptions. However, when this is not done, there are possible scenarios that would be experienced. First, all workers will not be responsible for the hard tasks at the work place. The hard task will be left unattended, as each worker will prefer lighter tasks (Aaker, 2011). Secondly, there will be no accountability. None of the workers will be accountable for loss of property. Similarly, no worker will accept liability when part of the work is not done. Lastly, without job descriptions, there will be minimal prod uction. This is due to the haphazard execution of tasks. 4. Drawbacks to using flexible work hours Employees have to provide optimum production while at their work place. This includes working for a specified period before taking a rest. However, some organisations prefer flexible working hours for their employees. This could expose the organisation to negativity. First, such an approach will encourage irresponsible behaviour. The workers will not report to their places of work as required (Robin, 2004). For example, they will find excuses to justify their irresponsible behaviour. Secondly, workers will be choosy on the schedules at work. They will prefer a schedule that is minimally supervised. This will reduce the productivity. Thirdly, collective progress will not be realised since the employees will choose different working hours. 8. Basis of ability or on personality Applicants should be primarily selected on basis of ability. The ostensible reason for an organisation is to get work done at the most appropriate time and within the set parameters. Workers with ability can increase productivity of an organisation to an optimum level. They are versatile in executing their work since they have the ability to do so (Learn Media BPP, 2010). As a fact, workers with a basis of ability have the mindset to learn new techniques at the work place. As such, they are likely to conform to the needs of the organisation. On the other hand, personality is not directly related to productivity. An organisation that picks personality will expose decent behaviour, but will not necessarily have optimum production. 9. Laying off workers Laying off workers is a process where an organisation reduces the number of workers. This can be due to a reduction in productivity, foreseen market concerns and when there is a need to cut on costs. To begin with, managers prefer to lay off workers with cyclic Sicknesses. These workers are constantly off duty due to their sicknesses. Therefore, the managers prefer to lay off such worker to cut on costs. Apparently, the option of early retirement is not considered in such a situation. This is due to the increased costs especially in insurance payments for the worker. Secondly, managers prefer to lay off workers especially when their payments have been revised (Beynon-Davies, 2009). An increase in the payments would mean an increase in the pension schemes payable to

Are We Abusing Our Free-Speech Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Are We Abusing Our Free-Speech Rights - Essay Example This fundamental freedom must be continually fought for in every medium and circumstance if the nation is to remain the shining beacon of liberty for the world. The constant battle for the preservation of free speech has most recently been enjoined concerning the unabated flow of information on the internet. The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) ruled that radio and television was exempt from First Amendment protection therefore must comply with arbitrary content guidelines. Though clearly a legal matter, the FCC gave itself the power to censor the media without virtue of a court decision. Now that censorship has been accepted by the majority, the government is currently attempting to control the internet. The powers that be apparently believes the public is abusing it’s free speech rights. The American public seems to be in favor of restricting online gambling as well as material of a sexual nature but this is a generation that has grown accustomed to censorship by their government and in many cases encourages this unconstitutional practice. A disturbing trend that should end with this generation and the battle ground is cyber-space. The Internet, today’s battleground for free speech The internet itself is not regulated. As efficient and enormously informative as the web is, its content is not overseen as are other communications mediums such as television and radio. It is a groundbreaking new technology that has amalgamated societies of the country and the world and introduced the concept of truly free expression and the perception that nothing is taboo. Everything is exposed and available at everyone’s literal finger-tip. The Internet has no physical, ethical or moral boundaries. Lawmakers and legal scholars generally use legal precedents from broadcast media decisions as the model for definitions of indecency and obscenity when developing regulations governing the Internet. Governmental censorship rational The Communications Decenc y Act (CDA) of 1996 made it a federal crime to display ‘indecent material’ on any computer network unless the website owner utilizes ‘effective’ techniques to control access of that material to minors. This law appears to be a reasonable compromise that protects free speech and prevents children from accessing objectionable material, but in practice and effect, outlaws free speech from the Internet. The Internet allows everyone the freedom to connect with other people and suppliers worldwide but an economical means for individuals to restrict their art or thoughts to the eyes of children is yet to be developed. Because of this lack of security technology, across the board prohibition is justified under the law, a concept that is in itself considered unlawful by a strict definition of the First Amendment of the Constitution which unambiguously guarantees the right to free speech (Pilon, 1994). Supreme Court decisions have consistently found that the First Am endment does not apply to obscene communications and have allowed communities to establish their own restrictions regarding what is obscene. The court in Miller v. California explained that if the ‘average’ person would describe the work as obscene or if it showed or expressed patently offensive sexual conduct without ‘serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value,’ the material is correctly defined as obscene (Mason, 2000). Censoring the Internet is impractical

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Feminism and International Relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Feminism and International Relations - Essay Example However, there are no agreed standards on how to achieve the equality standards. While most problems in international relations field are considered to reveal around the issue of war and security  as most realists assume, there are numerous groups that are liberal in nature, which are concerned in human rights groups, civil society, international political economy, development in the social space among others. For many years, realism and liberalism have been the two main theorists that address issues in international relations. Vibrant societal networks with entrenched confidence and practice leads lead to acknowledgement of important objectives in the country’s systems.The feminist movements and groups do influence international relations decisions by advocating new and better approaches to global to promote justice, equality, and maximise the value of humanity in globe affairs. Literature Review Feminism is currently a political movement and continues to challenge traditio nal approaches of conceptualising politics in the society and the political disciplines (Randall 1995, 118). There are two types of feminism: radical and Marxist feminism that had a revolutionary mind while the liberal feminists have portrayed themselves as reformists in international relations. As a result, in most western countries, the reformist mindset has won the political space, with many women, feminists included, making an impact in political institutions and professions (Randall 1995, 118). Feminist empiricism advances the perspective that states and interstate relations have been governed by dominating gendered structures, and interactions that have been neglecting women in leadership. Feminist standpoint is that women in their varied experiences in life have gained expertise and knowledge in the political life, which offers different perspectives on social issues that provide reliable and effective solutions to most problems in the world political system (Keohane 1989, 24 5). Therefore, the role of feminisms in international relations is to criticise any patriarchal thinking and introduce gendered structures in the society. The social and political integration have an impact on women discrimination since they diversify foundation of political competition and contribute to formation of diverse identities and understanding among citizens. Societal revolutions such as relocation from rural to city resolution areas, speedy population change, democratic politics, and improvement affect women rights. The political protests by women aim at convincing authorities of particular policies as well as create social norms through endorsing particular social behaviors. Problems Feminist Face in International Relations Women discrimination narrows the potential range of policy responses, undermines the capacity of the society to respond autonomously to the demands of their citizenry thereby weakening the legitimacy of traditional political intermediaries and state a uthorities. These new arrangements promoted the diffusion of new values of good governance, human rights, institutional structures, policy formulation, and democracy. One of the major problems that feminists have sought to deal with is in sovereignty of nations. For many years, sovereignty has been related to reciprocity (Keohane 1989, 247). In other words, as Koehane explains, while states have to claims their sovereignty, such states have a duty to respect the sovereignty of other states. These traditional international relation perspectives were discriminatory and tend to separate a nation from others. As Cohn (1987,

Household Saving In Australia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Household Saving In Australia - Essay Example Though the household savings rate has improved since bottoming out in 2003, they are still well below typical historical levels. After reaching a high of nearly 15 percent by the 1980s, there has been a steady decline, which hit a modern low of -2.7 percent in 2003 (Statistics portal 2009). The level has remained low and has shown no correlation to the rate of GDP growth during the last 30 years (Statistics portal 2009). However, the declining rate has a significant correlation to the personal debt to income ratio, as "in the 1980's, the average household owed less than $50 in debt for every $100 in income. In just 15 years, the ratio has tripled to almost $160 in debt for every $100 of income" (Gilbert & Disney, 2007, p.1). People are using disposable income to pay down and manage their debt, and there are little left for saving. Individually there are numerous reasons why an individual may choose to put some money aside, or fail to save anything. However, as a population there are some trends. Almost 75 percent of the people that make less than 20K per year had any savings, and this figure increased with income reaching 95 percent for those making over 60K (Harris, Loundes, & Webster 2002, p.209). In addition, people making over 60K were twice as likely to be saving for retirement, while those that make less than 20K were saving for an unforeseen emergency (Harris, Loundes, & Webster 2002, p.209). It has also been reported that women tend to save more than their male counterparts due to their living longer and having more retirement years (Loundes 1999, p.22). Superannuation and other 'forced' mechanisms for savings have been credited for the slight rebound in savings levels in recent years. Societies that saved have traditionally been thought to have healthy economies, but too much saving may reduce demand and slow the economy. Demand side economists suggest that in times of an economic slowdown, consumers and the government should borrow and spend rather than save. According to Skousen (2001, p.362), "if the public decides to save more during an economic turndown, it only makes matters worse". Consumers purchase fewer products, industry lays off workers, and there is less income to save. However, critics of demand side policies contend that increased savings would "have a favourable effect on interest rates, the rate of inflation, the current account deficit and future living standards" (Vamos 2008). The debate on individual savings is no less contentious than it was 75 years ago when Keynes argued that we could spend our way out of a depression. In conclusion, Australia has been following the world trend of a reduced level of savings for the last 30 years. In the current economic downturn, the time may not be ideal to recommend saving for the general public. However, for the individual there is never a wrong time. Savings may be needed for an unforeseen emergency or for their coming retirement, as well as help stabilize an economy that is already in a significant downturn. References Gilbert, R & Disney, S (eds.) 2007, Australia's National Saving Revisited: Where do we stand now, Press release from IFSA's National Savings Report, Sydney, AU, viewed 14 May

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Feminism and International Relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Feminism and International Relations - Essay Example However, there are no agreed standards on how to achieve the equality standards. While most problems in international relations field are considered to reveal around the issue of war and security  as most realists assume, there are numerous groups that are liberal in nature, which are concerned in human rights groups, civil society, international political economy, development in the social space among others. For many years, realism and liberalism have been the two main theorists that address issues in international relations. Vibrant societal networks with entrenched confidence and practice leads lead to acknowledgement of important objectives in the country’s systems.The feminist movements and groups do influence international relations decisions by advocating new and better approaches to global to promote justice, equality, and maximise the value of humanity in globe affairs. Literature Review Feminism is currently a political movement and continues to challenge traditio nal approaches of conceptualising politics in the society and the political disciplines (Randall 1995, 118). There are two types of feminism: radical and Marxist feminism that had a revolutionary mind while the liberal feminists have portrayed themselves as reformists in international relations. As a result, in most western countries, the reformist mindset has won the political space, with many women, feminists included, making an impact in political institutions and professions (Randall 1995, 118). Feminist empiricism advances the perspective that states and interstate relations have been governed by dominating gendered structures, and interactions that have been neglecting women in leadership. Feminist standpoint is that women in their varied experiences in life have gained expertise and knowledge in the political life, which offers different perspectives on social issues that provide reliable and effective solutions to most problems in the world political system (Keohane 1989, 24 5). Therefore, the role of feminisms in international relations is to criticise any patriarchal thinking and introduce gendered structures in the society. The social and political integration have an impact on women discrimination since they diversify foundation of political competition and contribute to formation of diverse identities and understanding among citizens. Societal revolutions such as relocation from rural to city resolution areas, speedy population change, democratic politics, and improvement affect women rights. The political protests by women aim at convincing authorities of particular policies as well as create social norms through endorsing particular social behaviors. Problems Feminist Face in International Relations Women discrimination narrows the potential range of policy responses, undermines the capacity of the society to respond autonomously to the demands of their citizenry thereby weakening the legitimacy of traditional political intermediaries and state a uthorities. These new arrangements promoted the diffusion of new values of good governance, human rights, institutional structures, policy formulation, and democracy. One of the major problems that feminists have sought to deal with is in sovereignty of nations. For many years, sovereignty has been related to reciprocity (Keohane 1989, 247). In other words, as Koehane explains, while states have to claims their sovereignty, such states have a duty to respect the sovereignty of other states. These traditional international relation perspectives were discriminatory and tend to separate a nation from others. As Cohn (1987,

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Motivating oneself Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Motivating oneself - Essay Example How does one keep himself or herself moving even when feeling lazy? How do an individual push himself or herself to grow, be able to take risks, and become better even when things are not going on well? According to chandler (54-56), there several tools used in motivating oneself. This includes ones heroes, role models, and rivals. Heroes are people who others aspire to become, those looked up to and whose actions are admirable. In having a hero, an individual will be pushed to be able to keep high standards in ones action. In addition, it helps one to ask himself or herself how the hero would respond when feeling low or dispirited. In having heroes, entrepreneurs are kept on the right track when having doubt on what is supposed to be done. Moreover, they will find source of strength when they require and be motivated to perform at their peak. Second tool is the role models, these are people whose characteristics are admired by others and everyone tries to imitate. Entrepreneurs can have many role models who excel in different field. Thirdly is using rivals in motivating oneself. Rivalry is a powerful driver that keeps one moving; it makes an individual entrepreneur more innovative and even pushes him or her forward. Rivals exist in different industries and or in the field of work hence, it is a powerful motivator. Entrepreneurs will first have to identify who their rivals are, and be able to find out more about their progress and successes. In doing this they will manage to push themselves to be able to out do their own rivals. Entrepreneurs should choose who their best competitors are, the ones they admire most and keep them in their minds as the standard that they are required to beat. Rivalry will always keep entrepreneurs focused and pushes them to work harder than they have done. They will not be lazy, contented, and even when being congratulated for any good work they have done, they will always be having their competitors to drive them

Monday, October 14, 2019

Used In Researching Audiences Media Essay

Used In Researching Audiences Media Essay Methods concentrate on counting and statistics and focus on in-depth analysis of information dissemination. According to Hartley (2002, p. 11), The audience is a construction motivated by the paradigm in which it is imagined, that is to say the different paradigms may cause the location of the audiences role to be disparate. To research on this, various methods are needed. Referring to cultural studies, quantitative and qualitative are two of the most widely used methodologies in the field of audience research; in which, moreover, qualitative methods have been regarded as generally preferable because they place emphasis on cultural meaning (Barker, 2012). Specifically, ethnography and interview are two of the most popular methods which belong to qualitative methods and have been widely used in audience research during 1980s-1990s. This paper will focus on ethnography method and interview method and then critically analyze them by reviewing relevant studies. It will construct by three parts. The first and the second part will lay out the theoretical dimensions separately of these two methods with looking at the advantages and limitations of them by using the leading research projects from 1980s-1990s; for example: Dorothy Hobsons research on housewives with radio and television ¼Ã¢â‚¬ ºJanice Radways research on women reading the romance ¼Ã¢â‚¬ ºDavid Morley focuses on the Nationwide audience. In part three, these two methods will be compared and contrasted. Ethnography used to be taken in anthropology study primordially, which is a branch of science describing a kind of culture or ethnic groups. Essentially, the ethnography method is a holistic description of cultural membership (Lindlof and Taylor, 2002). Specifically, according to Fetterman (1989), it is a process begin with in-depth and rich investigating, followed by interview, record review, perspectives assessing, exploring the organizational connections, and finally write a report to be published. The characteristics of ethnography can be divided into three aspects: Firstly, it uses the holistic research viewpoint. The ethnographer attempts to describe the culture or the social group through the research of history, religion, politics, economy, and environment; therefore, it emphasizes the contextualization of data (ibid). Similarly, Geertz (1973, p.16) highlights that ethnography is thick description, ethnographers grasp the complexity of social community and culture by using th is thick description and restore audiences interpretation from a small range of text  structure to social and historical environment. Secondly, in this process, ethnographers should keep an open mind, trying not to leave out any information. They do not mind spending several hours even only chatting with interviewees; they do a great deal of observation so that they can truly understand the real lives of audiences via equal communications. With discourse analysis, researchers can trace the social power factors behind the words which interviewees have said. However, this does not mean that researchers can conduct the interview with no explicit objectives; a framework reflects their own intention is still needed to carry on an open style interview, seeking information as much as possible. This issue was pointed out as with an open mind not an empty head by Fetterman (1989, p. 1). Thirdly, fieldwork is the most important factor in designing ethnographic method. Ruddock (2001) states that ethnography is attractive because it is based on naturally occurring data rather than artificial materials. This method requires researchers conduct the fieldwork in a natural environment: entering into the community of audiences instead of sitting in their offices and doing research in written form. It usually involves in-depth observation and investigation of a specific audience group or some cases. As Hammersley and Atkinson(1983cited in Barker, 2000) highlight that, researchers often immerse in the context, they participate in peoples daily life for a long period of time, observing what happens, watching the audiences, listening to their opinions, asking questions, analyzing what people do with media, and how they make sense of it. Above all, using ethnography in audience research compensates for the inadequacies of past studies. Ethnographic audience research had become a trend in the 1980s, and there were several studies becoming classic works afterwards because they have adopted the ethnographic method. In the multiple cases of ethnography studies, Radways research which focuses on women reading the romantic fictions is recognized classic work. She  connected the pleasure women felt in reading romantic fiction with the subordinate status of women in the patriarchal family and then investigated them; and she found that the reason why women read romantic fictions was related to evading the pressure of onerous housework. Radway (1984) demonstrates that the women treat reading the romance as a kind of independent declaration; they seek to rebuild their gender subjectivity in utopian fantasy in order to resist patriarchal culture. In early stage, her focus of attention was text analysis, later changed to reception research. At that moment, the content of text was no longer important, but reading itself is the process which establish the meaning and pleasure between text and reader, and the results cannot be predicted by the text itself (Curran, 1991). It seems to be undoubted that Reading the Roman plays a vital role in culture studies, largely due to the important ethnographic finding of cultural consumption it provides. However, some debates challenge this view: methodologist queries about empirical research and epistemology; feminists argue the relationship between feminists and real women; populist question its critical project. Modleski (1986, cited in Wood, 2004, à ©Ã‚ ¡Ã‚ µÃƒ §Ã‚  Ã‚ ) accuses Reading the Romance has over liberated the pleasures the women get from reading fictions. Ang (1988, cited in Wood, 2004, à ©Ã‚ ¡Ã‚ µÃƒ §Ã‚  Ã‚ ) states that the book does not take the possibilities of pleasure and fantasy seriously enough. Lauren Berlant (1987, cited in Wood, 2004) argues that Radway placed too much emphasis on describing the female identity. Although there are many critics about her study, undeniably, the concept stressing the interacting between diverse disciplines which advocate by Reading the Romance lays a f oundation in cultural studies and is regarded as a leading project for over twenty years, until now it has still been used as a compulsory reading for students to learn. In addition to print media, Dorothy Hobsons research on housewives and the mass media cannot be overlooked. The data is shown in Hobsons unpublished MA dissertation A Study of Working-Class Women at Home: Femininity, Domesticity and Maternity. Through talking with housewives, Hobson (1980, p. 85) found that television and radio are never mentioned as spare-time or leisure activities but are located by the women as integral parts of their day. As for those housewives, television and radio were regarded as the important elements in their daily lives, even their work and rest time were formulated by broadcast. They considered the broadcast programs as a friend and a crucial way for them to contact with outside world and to eliminate loneliness. Based on gender differences the understandings of television can also be divided into two worlds; which means men and women have dissimilar preferences. This study marks the beginning of gender analysis on audience. Turner (1998) explains that Hobson did not take the audiences into the world of an academic researcher, while it was she who participated in their world. She entered into the audiences house, watching soap opera with them, observing and interviewing them during that period. After the programs finished, she used to talk with the audiences in an open type for a long time. She asked the audience to determine what is interesting, what do they like or dislike or what do they concern about in those programs they had watched before. The audiences were encouraged by her to tell the reason why the program is popular or why it is criticized by them. To conclude, both these two studies carried out by Hobson and Radway have great significance in the history of audience research. Hobsons study is the first time that ethnographer study on the female audiences, and it is considered to be the first time in the history that ethnography is truly applied in audience research. The main contribution of this study is that it states the specific meanings of gender in the case of dealing with housework. Radway concurs in and further develops Hosons viewpoint of gender differences; she concerned with the common populaces power in domestic context of consumption. In terms of the method in audience research, using ethnographic method should be a kind of progress or breakthrough because it has opened up an unprecedented field of research. The results of such research are conducted by the researchers personal participant experience. The aim of research changes from a one-sided issue extends to an overall scope of daily life; researchers get out of their offices and enter into common peoples living room experience their real livesà ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â€š ¬ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â€š ¬ at least the visible behavior in their lives. Although this approach is still debatable; however, as Zoonen (1994:146) claims, in terms of the location of the researchers, there is no single truth in the world; the reason why we acknowledge the truth is due to the participation of researchers, they learn to tell us, or to depict detailed map. However, some limitations are still exist in ethnography. First of all, the relationships between researcher and researched is difficult. Due to the fact that people often tell the truth to whom they are familiar with, so it is not easy for researcher to integrate into the community and to gain their trust. Ruddock (2001) notes that it is important to arrange researcher and researched in a relatively equal position. Moreover, ethnography requires researcher to stay with the community for a long period of time; for instance, several months or even two or three years. Therefore it is a time-consuming task; it may take a significant amount of human and material resource. Interview Many researchers have found that interview is a particularly appropriate method to understand the experiences and opinions of researched. Kvale(1996, p. 1) proposes that if you want to know how people understand their world and their life, why not talk with them? As a most widely used method, it has three remarkable characteristics: to begin with, it is ordinarily a one-to-one, face-to-face conversation; it involves individual interaction between researchers and researched. The interaction built by interview is different from those usually found in public lectures, meetings or group discussions. Holstein (2001) suggests the relationship between researcher and researched is like a kind of friendship because of the equal and intimate conversation. Livingstone(2010) points out that interviews adapt the way of research with rather than research on interviewees, it seems to be more personalized and humane. The second and the most important aspect is it is usually deep-going. The questions should not as simple as which magazine do you read? or how often do you read it?, they are much more complicated. It is conducted on the basis of individual matters; for instance, interviewee themselves, cultural knowledge, personal experiences and opinions. Interview is a useful and effective way for researchers, which enables them to investigate the root driver of interviewees certain actions and their interpretations towards different circumstances. Lastly, interview is commonly used in addition to other methods or collaborate with them to collecting data. David Morley uses interview method and applies Stuart Halls (1980) encoding/decoding model (He claimed that a message cannot be regarded as a ball which is passed on one by one simply, it should be understood as a process which the program producer encode it and the audience decode it) to the empirical studies. Morley (1980) researches the BBC(British Broadcasting Corporation) evening news program Nationwide, and the purpose of this study is to test the audiences interpretations of television information and the different understandings related to their social classes or stratums. That is to say, through the Nationwide research, Morley tries to prove the process of meaning generated depends on the TV message and the social structure of the audience. Morley has arranged 29 groups of audiences according to their occupation, each group had 5~10 people. These 29 groups are divided into four types: managers, students, TU officials and shop stewards. Morley made them watch two BBC evening news programs: program A was Nationwide in May 10th, 1976 and program B was a similar program in March 29th, 1977. Then he used focused interview and group interview to investigate the diverse understandings from different groups. Focused interview analyzes some specific situations of the participants, which means to understand their subjective experience, and then get the responses of them. He transformed the entire interview questions from open style to structuring type, such as do you think using the word to describe X is appropriate?'(Morley, 1980). He believes that focused interview conforms to the natural situations, and the more structuring questions can make the topic even more real and natural. Morleys research provided empirical proof for Halls encoding/decoding model and it evoked strong repercussions in the field of mass culture while also incurred a lot of comment. Some scholars think Morleys study is not very successful, because it has not broken away from the traditional empirical study which considered the social backgrounds as variable quantity. Turner (1990) criticizes the research of Morley have several drawbacks: Firstly, the community structure of the participants seems to be too simple dividing into four main categories. Moreover, the participants are not distributed in a natural situation, their interpretation are separated from the typical and real environment of television watching since general people usually watch television in the evening at home. So it is questionable whether their interpretations are reliable. Secondly, as participants are assigned with the people in same social class to watch TV programs, their interpretation can be influenced by other s in the same group; The last defect is in the the connection between television program and audiences; are the viewers willing to watch Nationwide which Morley provide to them? The television content are given by researcher instead of chosen by the audiences themselves, this situation makes the research biased. Morley (1986) also acknowledged that this research has ruined the result because of the rough supposition. Nevertheless, scholars still regard his study as an important turning-point in audience research, he transfers audience research from viewing the structure of text to exploring how the audience deal with the text, and the reformation makes a considerable impact on the development of reading ethnographic method (Moores, 1993). In the same way, Ang(2006) notes that The Nationwide Audience has generally been received as an innovative departure within cultural studies, both theoretically and methodologically. For Morley himself, he has profoundly awarded from the deficiencies and revised methods in his later research to respond to the criticism of this study. In 1986, Morley launched another study of audience research with interview methodFamily Television. In this study, He aimed to find what affect peoples viewing experience, especially the interaction between family dynamics process and television-watching behavior. At first he attempted to study on the family social location and class identification; however, he found that the principle through all the researched family is closely related to gender issue. So he began to study the gender differences impact on the viewing practices. He chose 8 topics and selected 18 households as a sample and the researchers personally entered in these families to interview the family members. The interviews aimed at both parents and children, generally last for one to two hours. In order to leave space for thinking and asking questions, the entire inte rviewed process is not structured. Moreover, due to the presences of other family members, as well as the complicated interview questions, Morley was confident to get to the real interpretation. By using such a participation and observation method with interviews, Morley (1986) learned that the living-room politics heavily impact the family viewing reception so that it resulted in various viewing experiences for different family members. For these empirical differences, Morley recognizes it is not caused by the biological characteristics of men and women; however, it depends on their different social roles in family. For men, family is a leisure field, while it is more likely to be a workplace for women. Since domestic environment is constructed by gender relations, it leads to a variety of viewing experiences. However, Stevenson (2002) maintains that although Morleys study reflects the different patterns of media in constructing social life, such life is actually surpassing the fact of the belief. In other words, Morley tends to overly emphasize the importance of audiences interpretation capacity in ideology. Although there are some criticisms, the contribution of Morleys two studies cannot be ignored. Similarly, As Tuner (1998) points out, Morleys study break through the theoretical model encoding/decoding put forward by Hall (1980), Hall concerned text is the key point of the way that viewers decode the text; however, Morley focused on the social process itself of audience watching television. Turner (1998) confirms that Morleys study directly lead us to attach importance on the social forces which produces audience, reduce attention from text and audience. It stresses more extensive study on practice and discourse of everyday life. In summary, with facing (to) a totally unfamiliar world and objects, comprehensive and detailed descriptions are urgently needed. The holistic view and detailed fieldwork which contained by ethnography is in response to these needs. In other words, ethnography is a detailed report records the entire process and various kinds of approaches for researched. However, as all the other research methods, ethnography has its own limitation which is that not all of the social activities can be measured via participant observation or personal interviews. For instance, ethnography cannot be used to research the events of the past, it only can be carried out at present. In addition, ethnography cannot handle large-scale case study, such as large organizations or the whole country (Hammersley Atkinson, 1983). With mention to interview, it is useful and effective in collecting data, researchers can understand the experiences and perspectives through communicating with researched. Moreover, interv iew is also a good way to make audiences feel equal and relax. However, it is not suitable for all of the audience research. For example, it may not be able to insight into the role of the people or organizations which are outside the world of personal life of interviewees. To conclude, as two of the most popular methods, ethnographic and interview are often used in cultural studies to explore indepth under a particular circumstances. As academic trends which grow out of specific historical context, and with the care of individual subjectivity, cultural studies always pays close attention to powers in practice of cultural phenomenon, constructing audiences as active users of media. It places audience in the social context; therefore it breaks through the empirical audience research successfully. Even though scholars still have some controversy, the paradigm raised by the school of cultural studies really provides a different landscape of the interaction between audience and culture, which firmly establishes the characteristic status in audience research. Reading List: Fetterman, D.M. (1989). Ethnography: step by step. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE Hartley, J. 2002. Communication, cultural and media studies: the key concepts. London: Routledge. Barker, C. 2000. Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice. London: SAGE. Lindlof, T.R. Taylor, B.C. 2002. Qualitative Communication Research Methods. California: SAGE. Ruddock, A. 2001. Understanding audiences: Theory and method. London: SAGE. Geertz, C. 1973. The interpretation of cultures. New York : Basic Books. Hobson, D.1980: Housewives and the mass media. In Hall, S (ed.), Culture, Media, Language: Working Papers in Cultural Studies. London: The Academic Division of Unwin Hyman, pp. 85-95 Turner, G. 1998. British cultural studies: An introduction. London: Routledge. Purdie, S. (1992) Janice Radway, Reading the Romance, in M. Barker and A. Beezer (eds) Reading into Cultural Studies, pp. 148-64. London: Routledge. Radway, J. 1986. Identifying Ideological Seams: Mass Culture, Analytic Method, and Political Practice. Communication, 9, pp. 93-123. Wood, H. 2004. What Reading the Romance did for us? European Journal of Cultural Studies, 7(2), pp. 147-154. Zoonen, L.V. 1994. Feminist media studies. London: SAGE. Sonia Livingstone, Giving People a Voice: On the Crticial Role of the Interview in the History of Audience Research, Communication, Culture G. Critique 3 (4, 2010): 566-71 Kvale, S. 1996. Interviews : an introduction to qualitative research interviewing Interviews. London: SAGE. Holstein, J.A. Gubrium, J. F. 2001. Handbook of Interview Research: Context and Method. London: SAGE. Morley, D. (1980).  The Nationwide Audience: Structure and Decoding. London: British Film Institute. Tunner, G. 1990. Audience in British cultural studies. Boston:Unwin Hyman. Morley,D. 1986. Family Television: Cultural Power and Momestic Leisure. London: Comedia. Moores, S. 1993. Interpreting audiences: the ethography of media consumption. London:Sage. Ang, I. 2006: On the politics of empirical audience research. In Durham. M. G (ed.), Media and cultural studies : keyworks. Oxford: Blackwell, pp.174-194. Stevenson, K. 2002. Understanding Media Cultures: Social Theory and Mass Communication. London: SAGE. Hammersley, M. Atkinson, P.(1983). Ethnography: Principles in practice.New York: Tavistock.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Cinematic Interpretation of Stepping Razor Red X: the Peter Tosh Story :: essays papers

Cinematic Interpretation of "Stepping Razor Red X": the Peter Tosh Story Films are designed for numerous purposes, some entertain, frighten, enlighten, educate, inspire, and most make us think about the world we live in. This paper will be focused on the cinematic interpretation of the film "Stepping Razor Red X", the Peter Tosh Story. The makers of a film from the writer, director, cinematographer and the art director, design, and conceptualize what they want the viewer to see. Movie makers have agendas. They get their ideas across by using cinematic techniques and styles which make us view a certain subject in the light that they put it in. I will discuss the differing techniques used by the makers of "Stepping Razor" and describe what the overall impression of the movie has on the viewer, and what the agenda of the director is. Genre "Genre: A group of films having recognizably similar plots, character types, settings, filmic techniques, and themes." (Konigsberg:165) The Genre of this film is difficult to define because it is not composed of a single agenda. The director makes a point of talking about Tosh’s life, but because of the cinematic themes and the film’s style it is not solely a documentary. This film is also a multimedia film because elements of music and concert footage are added to the essential plot. This film is avant-garde in it’s nature. "Avant-garde [refers to films that] deny the traditional narrative structure and techniques of commercial films by seeking to explore new modes of visual and emotional experience." (Konigsberg:25) It could be considered an anthology film, because of the various concert footage that is woven throughout the movie. "An Anthology film is a full length film made up of excerpts from other films which are related by some theme [or] the appearance of the same performer." (Konigsberg:16) "Stepping Razor" also has elements of Cinema Verite. "Cinema Verite†¦applies to a series of documentary films which strive for immediacy, spontaneity, and authenticity through the use of portable and unobtrusive equipment and the avoidance of and preconceived narrative line or concepts concerning the material." (Konigsberg:57) "Stepping Razor" may also be put under the category of art film. "Art film [is] a type of film with serious artistic intentions as distinct from the commercial films made in Hollywood."(Konigsberg:20) This film also has elements of a propaganda film. "Propaganda films [are] made with the intention of persuading the audience to a particular point of view concerning the subject†¦relying on the apparently real and factual nature of the images on the screen and often using an authoritative voice-over to sway.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Wright Brothers Essay -- American Aeronautics, Invention, Flight

The brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright, possibly the two most renowned representatives of American aeronautics, were the first to experience controlled, continuous flight of a powered airplane in history. Despite being autodidactic in the area of engineering, the duo proved to be extraordinarily successful, testing and refining their strategies to overcome successive challenges that arose with the building of a plane (Crouch 226). The two were so far ahead in the race for flight that they even anticipated and found solutions to problems that more learned scientists could not have even begun to predict. Successful, man-controlled, powered flight was a fundamental turning point in history; it transformed the methods of how the United States fought its battles, powered developmental and technological change, revolutionized travel and trade, and provided help in forming the world into what it is today. Wilbur and Orville Wright grew up in Dayton, Ohio, in a home that allowed for the two to pursue their intellectual interests. The boys’ parents, Milton and Susan Wright, allowed their children to follow their creative instincts, and helped filter their energy into being creative. Mrs. Wright was a top mathematician in her class and very creative herself; she assembled many household appliances and even built playthings for her children (Garber 1). Both Wilbur and Orville frequently requested help from their mother for counsel on any problems they encountered in their undertakings as children. Their father, Bishop Milton Wright, who would normally bring home toys to help spark their creative interests, gave the two brothers their first material inspiration, a rubber band toy helicopter, early on in childhood (Garber 1). They created ma... ...se across the globe, only taking a few days for the packages to arrive at their destination. Since the time of the World Wars and the Wright brothers, aviation has become a huge part of global society. The Orville and Wilbur Wright’s names will forever be remembered into United States history as the first men who were the first to fully realized human flight. Their successful invention of a working, powered airplane brought about whole new ways of wars, including new strategies for both offense and defense. Many technological advances might not have occurred without the need for new weapons and systems for airplanes. Travel and commerce would be much slower without the usage of airplanes. Orville and Wilbur have made a lasting impact on the world with their invention of a working, human-controlled, powered airplane; who knows what the world would be without it.